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Article

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Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services

Faculty Mentor

Lori Roggman

Presentation Type

Poster Presentation

Abstract

Emotion regulation is the capacity to manage emotion, and is influenced by situations, people, and the child’s specific goals for regulating emotion in specific situations (Thompson & Calkins, 1996). Two possible influences are mothers’ level of education and the quality of parent-infant interactions. The purpose of this project is to assess the association between maternal education and infants’ emotion regulation skills, and to see how this association is mediated by parent-infant interaction quality. Extant longitudinal data on a sample of n=1984 infants and their families from the Early Head Start Research & Evaluation Project were used for this project. Mothers reported their level of education at program enrollment. Parent-infant interactions were video recorded and coded at infant ages 14, 24, and 36 months using the Parenting Interactions with Children: Checklist of Observations Linked to Outcomes (PICCOLO). PICCOLO is an observational tool used to assess supportive parenting behaviors across four domains: Affection, Responsiveness, Encouragement, and Teaching (Roggman et al., 2013). Averaged scores across ages represent interaction quality. The Emotional Regulation subscale of the Bayley Behavipresentation Rating Scales (BRS; Bayley, 1993) was used to measure child behavior during a difficult task at 36 months. Bivariate correlations show significant positive associations between maternal education, interaction quality, and emotion regulation at 36 months. Multiple regression analyses indicated that interaction quality mediates the association between maternal education and infants’ emotional regulation. This was supported by a Sobel test which indicated that parenting is a significant mediator. These results suggest that mothers with higher levels of education interact with their infants in more developmentally supportive ways than mothers with lower levels of education which then affects infants’ abilities to regulate their emotions.

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Apr 12th, 9:00 AMApr 12th, 10:15 AM

The Influence of Maternal Education and Parent-Infant Interaction Quality on Early Emotion Regulation

The North Atrium

Emotion regulation is the capacity to manage emotion, and is influenced by situations, people, and the child’s specific goals for regulating emotion in specific situations (Thompson & Calkins, 1996). Two possible influences are mothers’ level of education and the quality of parent-infant interactions. The purpose of this project is to assess the association between maternal education and infants’ emotion regulation skills, and to see how this association is mediated by parent-infant interaction quality. Extant longitudinal data on a sample of n=1984 infants and their families from the Early Head Start Research & Evaluation Project were used for this project. Mothers reported their level of education at program enrollment. Parent-infant interactions were video recorded and coded at infant ages 14, 24, and 36 months using the Parenting Interactions with Children: Checklist of Observations Linked to Outcomes (PICCOLO). PICCOLO is an observational tool used to assess supportive parenting behaviors across four domains: Affection, Responsiveness, Encouragement, and Teaching (Roggman et al., 2013). Averaged scores across ages represent interaction quality. The Emotional Regulation subscale of the Bayley Behavipresentation Rating Scales (BRS; Bayley, 1993) was used to measure child behavior during a difficult task at 36 months. Bivariate correlations show significant positive associations between maternal education, interaction quality, and emotion regulation at 36 months. Multiple regression analyses indicated that interaction quality mediates the association between maternal education and infants’ emotional regulation. This was supported by a Sobel test which indicated that parenting is a significant mediator. These results suggest that mothers with higher levels of education interact with their infants in more developmentally supportive ways than mothers with lower levels of education which then affects infants’ abilities to regulate their emotions.